The Vance County Board of Commissioners approved by consensus Monday a request from City Manager Hassan T. Kingsberry to continue the county’s joint building code enforcement agreement with the city.
Although the Henderson City Council had voted to come out of that agreement at its December 2024 meeting, Kingsberry said he has recommended to the council that the existing agreement remain in effect.
“I have the support of the majority of my council,” Kingsberry said.
City Clerk Tracey Kimbrell told WIZS News Thursday the Council voted on June 30 to extend the current contract for two months, until Aug. 31. The Council has not made a formal vote on the matter; rather, the agreement to re-enter the joint agreement with the county was reached by consensus.
Commissioner Tommy Hester said, “I think that is an exceptionally good idea” and
was prepared to make a motion to continue the agreement, but at the recommendation of County Attorney Jonathan Care, the board offered instead a consensus for approval.
Care said he would recommend that county staff go and negotiate and bring back an actual agreement that both parties approve of.
County Manager C. Renee Perry said she would bring an agreement to the September meeting.
In the meantime, because the current agreement expires Aug. 31, Hester made a motion for a 30-day extension. That motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Commissioner Yolanda Feimster was absent from the meeting.
“We need to work with the city any way we can to bring economic development to this community,” Hester said.
Perry said the budget for the department had stayed in place because she didn’t know what the city would decide to do. “We budgeted for a full department, as we have done historically,” she said.
In other action during the meeting, commissioners voted to deny contributing to a matching grant request for funding the Montgomery/William Street splash park.
During her report, Perry reminded commissioners that during an April 2025 work session, Recreation and Parks Department Director Kendrick Vann and the city manager had requested matching funds of $495,000 from the county for the park.
“The match is now $864,982,” Perry said. “I have concerns with the match just because I don’t feel that we’re in a financial position to come up with that type of cash right now.”
“I think my main concern is, this board didn’t know anything about this grant,” she said.
Dan Brummitt made the motion to deny the county match. It was seconded and passed unanimously.
